Bradley Fold Allotments is grateful to a number of sponsors, supporters and volunteers who help us maximise the benefits of our gardening.
In March we started hosting volunteers from Turner and Townsend Project Management and Consulting who did a wonderful job to support gardening for all on our developing community plot.
They did so much – transported a ton of rock across to the polytunnel, transported all the construction boards across and a dozen long pine poles which will be the corner posts of the outside raised beds. They levelled inside the polytunnel, gravelled, laid slabs for level surfaces and then constructed the first layers of the first indoor raised bed. A huge amount of work and very well done!
We rewarded them with some fresh rhubarb and fresh wild garlic, and hope that they all recover from their aching muscles soon.
This grew into a strong relationship and In the 12 months since the group’s first visit in November 2023, we have hosted about 30 volunteers from the company. They have harvested fruit, planted crops and constructed inside and outside the poly tunnel, working hard with enthusiasm and humour in all weathers.
WeLoveMCR Stronger Communities Fund – the Lord Mayor of Manchester’s charity supported us with a donation of £4000 towards the construction of our Community Access Plot. This helped us build the raised beds and provide a safe and level surface. The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Paul Andrews, visited us in May 2024 to formally open the plot and meet the Committee and key volunteers.
Tesco Stronger Starts – we were very pleased to be accepted onto the Tesco Stronger Starts fund and have votes cast for our Community Access project in local stores. We have been awarded £1500 towards completing the raised beds on our plot and filling them with topsoil. The whole allotment society got behind the voting process and visited all the local Tesco stores to vote with the blue buttons, often eagerly comparing notes as to where the most votes were being cast.
Didsbury Open Gardens very generously awarded us a grant of £1500 which was used for the construction and materials for our raised beds on the Community Access Plot. Bradley Fold Allotments took part in Didsbury Open Gardens in June 2024 and was one of many local gardens open for visits for the enjoyment of local residents who came to admire our beautifully kept plots and lovely grounds.
Neighbourhood Investment Fund from Manchester City Council awarded us £1500, split between East and West Didsbury wards. This is a fund nominated and voted for by local councillors to encourage initiatives that help the environment and the community. We hosted visits from local councillors Debbie Hilal, John Leech and Richard Kilpatrick who were impressed by our vegetable growing and the donations we make to local foodbanks and community kitchens as well as by our initiative on the Community Plot to provide amenities for allotment members who are no longer able to garden on a standard plot. Our Local Government Officer, Andy Young, has also visited Bradley Fold and is arranging the delivery of three city benches to be used on our site. He is also hosting a Climate Change initiative “Dragons Den” event and we are bidding for a further grant of £1000 to develop the parking area as a community orchard, wildflower area and shared perennial plants area.
Oak Building Services Limited kindly donated and delivered a ton of stone material we needed to lay the base for the flagstones in the polytunnel. Mr Nick McIver, MD of Oak Building Services has a personal connection with the allotments as his late father gardened a plot on Bradley Fold for many years. We are grateful to Nick for his support of our local initiative.
